Talk to me about an episiotomy...

DH came home from work and said that he'd been discussing this with his mate (why?!) and that the friend said that his wife had refused an episiotomy and ended up with an EMCS mid way through the birth.

The reasoning was that the skin would never, ever heal properly and would be prone to opening for the rest of her life.

Don't want to scare myself with Dr Google, so any opinions on this please? I want to make an informed decision!

Well I had an episiotomy with DD1 and that healed perfectly. DD2 came out so quickly I had a really jagged tear that opened up a few days later and when I weed the pain was excruciating. You need to watch Dara o Briain's sketch on it...

I had one with Babba 1 and at the tine it didn't hurt couldn't feel anything and didn't really for next few hours! It did sting a bit and bit swollen but healed perfect and wouldn't have known I had it! It's abs nothing to worry about and no big deal really!!!

I tore but have healed well twice, you might not even tear, listen to the midwife, breath your baby out (well that's what I hoped to do but ds1 had merconium and ds2 falling heart rate..it wasn't to be)

I had one with DC1 (forceps delivery) which took longer than normal to heal, there was some scar tissue that you could feel for about a year but nothing at all now, and I had a second DC last year and it didn't reopen, despite a big headed baby and a rapid birth. So yes your DH is talking nonsense.

had one for a forceps birth. I was scared of one, too. turns out it was no problem. stitches healed just fine, scar barely noticeable.I've had no problems with it. why does she think an epi scar is any more fragile than c section scar?

I had one and be in no doubt, afterwards it can hurt a lot. For 5 days I couldn't sit down properly. After two weeks I finally felt able to wear jeans. But all of this would be nothing compared with having an emcs.

For my two subsequent births I had small tears and healed very quickly.

I had to have a large episiotomy during a traumatic and rapid emergency forceps delivery. I had been insistent that I did not want one up until that point but when it became as simple as the only way to get my distressed baby out in time, I acquiesced immediately! At the time, it was fine but in the days afterwards it was absolute agony and I couldn't sit down normally for weeks. I'd agree to it again in an instant though- they don't just do them for fun!

I was cut I had said from the beginning of labour to anyone that would listen-please don't let me tear just cut me!I had said it so much my dp answered yes when doc asked was it ok!I healed well and quickly and feel no difference down below now.

Ok quick (and probably stupid) question about this but do they give you pain relief or anything before doing it? The thought of tearing or having this done freaks me out because of the pain at the time!

I also had a question. When do they decide to go for episiotomy as opposed to a tear? In my head an episiotomy would be better because it would be more controlled. If you are having a water birth how do they check if you need an episiotomy or not?(Sorry for slight thread hijack)

I really don't know if a I had any pain relief before they did it. I was using gas and air but that was it. It all happened so quickly, and was in pain anyway, so didn't notice anything else. They gave a local before stitching me up again.